Queñual Raymi

During the rainy season in the Andes, in recent years, driven by ECOAN organization, the communities of Cusco have rescued an ancestral practice: The planting of water. Action that consists in the process of collecting rainwater in wells and that this infiltrates the subsoil to be used during the dry season. This work is complemented with planting of the Queñual, a shrub that, among other benefits, increases the infiltration of water into the subsoil of the highlands and wetlands.

The “Queñual Raymi”, or festival of the Queñual, takes up the Inca practices of the Ayni or Minka, which promotes reciprocity and collective work for the common good. The communities of Cusco plant up to 150 thousand bushes in one day in a celebration that strengthens their identity and promotes a more sustainable relationship for the new generations that depend on the soil for their livelihood.